4 Step System To The Perfect Fundraising Product

I often get asked, “Which promotional products are the best for fundraising?” I have a four point checklist that I suggest you go through that I think can help determine the best fundraising product for your cause. For the sake of the exercise let’s assume we are a Football club, wanting to raise money for some new facilities. The products we are considering are Wristbands, T-Shirts and Stubby Holders.

1. Outlay:

The first variable is the amount you are prepared to outlay. Let’s say we have $1000 to spend. This would get us around 2500 Wristbands, 100 printed T Shirts or 250 stubby holders. Wristbands are great for smaller projects and for something with bigger goals, you could go for a more expensive clothing item such as custom polo shirt or embroidered jacket.

2. Saleability:

Depending on how well your charity or cause is known and supported, some items are easier to sell than others. It is not hard to sell a bright coloured wristband for $2 to a non-club member, a stubby holder is a little more difficult, and clothing is near impossible unless you are a well-known charity.

How big is your club and supporter base? Some clubs are big enough not to have to worry about selling outside of their own members, whereas some clubs depend almost entirely on selling to strangers.

3. Sponsorability:

Yes I know, that’s not really a word! Sponsors are a great way to subsidise the cost or your products. Some fundraising campaigns are profitable, before an item is even sold because of sponsorship gained. If you have willing sponsors, then be smart and use products that best promote their brand.

Wristbands don’t lend themselves well to sponsors’ logos, as they are very difficult to see and read. Both T shirts and stubby holders on the other hand are great for your sponsors’ logos. Not only are they big enough to see and read, but if you have multiple sponsors you can print them all on, for the same price as printing just one (provided you stick to a set number of colours).

4. Likely Profit:

Pull out your paper and pencil, or start a little spread sheet and do the math. The formula you need to follow is: